Peter Hummers, of the Nags Head, NC Sentinel, covered entertainment on and about the Outer Banks of North Carolina 2006-2013

Guitar duo lights up the Forum with fireworks and fun

Master guitarists Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo visited the First Flight High School Saturday. Playing amplified acoustic instruments, they owned the audience after their first number, ‘It Might As Well Be Spring,’ when they stopped mid-song to pose comically for a photographer in the audience. The show continued apace, mixing virtuosic musicianship with comedy. The music ranged from ballet, as the pair managed to play Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake Act One while assuming ballet positions and prancing about the stage, to beautiful jazzy versions of early to modern standards (‘Stardust,’ ‘I Shot the Sheriff’), with special emphasis given to past masters Les Paul (whom Vignola has played with) and Gypsy genius Django Reinhardt … not to mention Frank Zappa. Visit FrankVignola.com, VinnyRaniolo.com and OuterBanksForum.org for more. (Pete Hummers photo)